This invention relates to a locking tag having a special slotted holding orifice for receiving a band about merchandise. The locking tag has an information part for printed matter. The printed matter may vary and may include scannable code material, or label or marking information, or advertising.
Merchandise of many different types is banded for presentation to consumers and for movement of the merchandise in channels toward ultimate marketing to the consumer. For example, bands of rubber or twist tie or string may be placed about a box of merchandise or about multiple boxes or about clumps of merchandise or about rolled or folded merchandise such as a newspaper. Affixing bands about clumps of agricultural produce is widely practiced, especially at the time of harvesting. The addition of appropriate marking tags on such banded clumps also is desirably accomplished at or near the time of harvesting.
Mass merchandising outlets such as superstores or supermarkets have placed more and more emphasis on scannable merchandise markings as the key means to control the accuracy of processing and avoid losses at the check-out counter, and they want economy and sales promotion markings.
The trend in marking extends well beyond scannable tags having simple bar codes (for product identification) or Universal Product Codes (UPC--a combination of bar code and numbers for product identification and usually also a price specification) or product look-up numbers (PLU numbers). Nutritional facts are being more and more required on some products by federal law, and are in general more and more expected by consumers. Recipes, nutritional information, serving suggestions, storage directions, origin of product information (e.g., produced in the U.S.A.), and everything else that could possibly help a consumer make a purchasing decision, and help retailers with accuracy at check-out (and also help retailers and their suppliers, including growers, with inventory monitoring), can be a candidate for an appropriate merchandise tag.
Critical to the requirements of mass merchandising are marking tags that stay in place on banded clumps of agricultural produce during the several handling and processing steps for the produce, even during steps of rough handling as in the washing or cleaning of the tagged produce.
In short, the effective tagging of banded clumps of agricultural produce in an economical manner with all of the data required or desired by superstores, and without damage to the merchandise, and with worker motions of a minimal and economical nature satisfactory to everyone in getting the tag affixed, are but the starting needs. Of the utmost importance are tags that stay in place and are not damaged during product cleaning or washing or other steps in moving the products through marketing channels to the ultimate consumer. This invention provides a unique solution to this problem.